Reliability and Credibility of Children as Witnesses

he question of the status of children's evidence has provoked intense public debate. At present, in most Australian jurisdictions the evidence of a child is not admitted unless and until the judge is satisfied that it is appropriate to do so (for example s. 23 Evidence Act 1958 (Vic)). In Victorian courts, the judge must first determine whether the child (if under fourteen years) understands the nature of the oath. If the answer is yes, then the child's evidence is admitted in the same fashion as an adult's. If the answer is no, the judge must then assess whether the child is intelligent enough to understand and respond to questions. If this answer is no, the evidence is excluded. If the answer is yes, the evidence is admitted but it must be corroborated. With the increasing concern about the incidence of sexual abuse of children (where the child is often the sole witness as well as the victim), and about domestic violence (where a child is likely to be a principal witness) the status accorded children's evidence in our judicial system is coming under closer scrutiny. The status of children's evidence is of critical significance in our criminal justice system. Exclusion of children's evidence may mean, in cases where the only witness is a child or children, that an offender will not be prosecuted because there is little or no other evidence which can be led against the accused. This means that many criminal acts can be committed with impunity and that children are victims of repeated criminal acts. If, however, a child's evidence is inherently unreliable or a jury is unable to assess reliability of the evidence accurately then the admission of such evidence may well prejudice the outcome of the trial for the accused. In this paper, research findings relevant to the reliability and credibility of children's evidence are examined. With respect to reliability of evidence two apparently contradictory conclusions have been drawn from recall and person recognition studies: adult's evidence is more reliable than children's; and children's evidence about certain types of events may be reliable. As to credibility, findings from studies suggest that no simple rule about age and credibility can be formulated. It depends on the subject matter of the material and the manner in which the evidence in question is presented.